Ever since the internet invaded mobile devices, lengthy links have been an issue. With only 140 characters in a tweet or 160 in a text, there can’t be any wasted space. This is where the link shortener comes in. [Read more…]

Apache is a great open source web server, but the configuration files are as clear as hieroglyphics. Fortunately there’s an easy way to get the configuration settings you need. Keep reading to find out how to make an .htaccess file with ease.

If you have been on Facebook for any amount of time at all, I’m sure you have experienced a massive Facebook message conversation. It may (or may not) start off as something useful, but more often than not these conversations quickly descend into a spammy mess. Thankfully, there is a way to opt out. [Read more…]

If you’re a self-hosted WordPress blogger, you know the importance of a good theme. It’s the first thing your visitors see when they come to your blog, and as the old saying goes, you only get one chance at a first impression. If you don’t have a good WordPress theme, that first impression may be the only one you get. That’s why I use StudioPress.

When I first discovered AppSumo, I thought, “Oh, great. Another daily deal site.” After looking around for a little while, I quickly realized that I was wrong. AppSumo is not another copycat deal site. AppSumo is the profitable blending of two diverse business models. [Read more…]

Specifically, Resources useful for Copywriting

If you can write, there is (apparently) plenty of opportunity to make a lot of money copywriting.

At least, that’s the story I’ve been buying recently.

In pursuit of a lucrative copywriting career, I’ve been doing research about copywriting and studying the market, and in the past week I’ve come across some useful (and FREE) online resources that you are bound to love. [Read more…]

Do We Really Need Another Local Deals Site?

Woot Says, Yes

From time to time I get emails from Woot.com, the brilliant originator of the one-deal-per-day online phenomenon. The typical Woot email contains their signature tongue-in-cheek copywriting and news from the Woot universe.

Until recently, this universe included: the original Woot.com, Shirt.Woot, Wine.Woot, Kids.Woot, and Deals.Woot. An email sent to “Extra Special Deals.Woot Users” on Friday (Oct. 7, 2011) announced a new member to the family of Woot sites: Local.Woot.

Introducing Local.Woot

Similar to other local deals sites (like Groupon or LivingSocial), Local.Woot will “focus on retailers who sell vouchers by local area,” the email said. The about section of the site goes into further detail, explaining Local.Woot as a kind of aggregate of other local deals sites:

Visit here every day and you’ll find all the current Living Social, Amazon, Groupon, etc. deals for your area.

By aggregating deals from these other organizations, Local.Woot allows users to have a broader view of the deal scene in their city. Similar to Deals.Woot, users vote for the local deals they like and leave comments to help other Wooters. The most popular deals make their way to the front of the “Top” section, and the newest deals show up in the “Fresh” section.

Entering so late in the game, Local.Woot may be a wonderful idea that just came a little bit too late. Will the aggregating system help Local.Woot weather the tumultuous world of local deals? Or will it be another “also ran”? Only time will tell, but in the meantime feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Site stats can be incredibly addictive for webmasters, and if you’ve been working on websites for any time at all, you are probably very familiar with Google Analytics. However, you may not be familiar with another useful tool: Clicky Analytics.

Like Google’s system, Clicky Analytics records data on your sites’ traffic, but one of the biggest advantages of Clicky is that the statistics are real time. With other analytics programs, you have to wait for the data to process before you can view it. With Clicky, you can view the traffic data as soon as it hits your websites.

This data is then displayed in very intuitive charts and graphs. By default, you will see the real time site stats for the current day, hour-by-hour, with the previous day’s stats displayed for quick comparison. Readily available on your Clicky dashboard (in addition to the basic information such as number of visitors, time spent on your site, etc.), you will also see widgets for inbound links to your site, popular search terms that brought visitors, your most popular content, and where your visitors are from geographically.

Clicky is also easily integrated into your workflow. Right on the Clicky website, you will find links for plugins for your data to be displayed directly in the administrative menus of WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and other popular content management systems. Not at a computer? Quickly check your site stats remotely with mobile ClickyTouch App for iPhone and iPad or the ClickyDroid App for Android.

I’ve been using Clicky for a few weeks now, and I find it to be a great supplement to Google Analytics. But you don’t have to take my word for it. All new accounts get free Pro-level service for the first 21 days. After that, if you want to keep using Clicky for free, they will track the stats for your first 3,000 visits per day at no charge. A reasonably priced tier structure is always there for you if you want to upgrade later.

Ready to get started? Click either Clicky graphic on this post or follow this link to get started measuring your site stats with Clicky.